


No Rest For The Wicked

by Cytellax



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Mild Blood, Mild Language, Slow Build, some Sonadow if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:35:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cytellax/pseuds/Cytellax
Summary: Tails decides to mess with something that probably should NOT have been messed with and now Sonic may have to make some temporary life changes to accommodate for it.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 87





	1. oops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew something that inspired this fic a while back and I'm finally deciding to write it out. I don't write fics often so sorry if it reads a little weirdly.

_Why? Why couldn’t things just stay quiet for like a month? Or a year?_ Tails thought to himself as he rubbed his tired eyes.

With how bright the moonlight was filtering in through the window one could tell it was way past midnight. Sitting alone in his workshop, the young fox has endless historical books, graphs, and research nearly filling the entire expanse of his overly large work table all of them containing some form of information about the forces of Light and Dark Gaia. Information that, unfortunately, wasn't helping his current dilemma. It made absolutely no sense to the young genius. None of this should have happened or better yet should have been impossible to happen according to the information laid out in front of him.

“I just don’t understand. Either I missed something in the scriptures or my research isn’t ACTUALLY complete like I thought it was.”

Tails lets out an exhausted sigh before turning his attention to the camera feed on one of his monitors. The video sends a pang of worry through the fox and he desperately tries not to blame himself too much for what he sees.

It’s Sonic, but not regular, cobalt blue, fastest thing alive Sonic.

_It’s Werehog Sonic._

_____Two Weeks Ago____

It was late afternoon and the breeze could not feel any better to Sonic as he zipped along the treeline of a forest. A little midday run always helped him clear his mind and experience the world around him for what it was. A ping on his mini wrist communicator drew him from his mindless run and checked to see who messaged him.

Tails: “Hey Sonic! I know you’re out on one of your runs, but I would really appreciate it if you could stop by my workshop. I have a little something I want to show you and possibly test out. And no, I’m not telling you any details because it would ruin the surprise.”

Sonic smiled and shook his head before changing his direction to his best friend’s workshop. Even though they had grown older over the years some things just never change. The blue blur always felt special that he was privy to all of Tails’ inventions first before anyone else saw it. When Sonic arrived he knocked on the open doors to announce his presence.

“Hey there buddy! What special toy do you have for me to play with this time?” He said with a smirk and nonchalance.

“Ha Ha, very funny. You know very well my inventions are NOT to be played around with even though you have a tendency to use and abuse them like toys.” Tails gets up and faces his companion.

“But that’s besides the point. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is not something new. It’s something you are actually quite familiar with. I wouldn’t call it refurbished, but it’s definitely not what it originally was.”

The two tailed fox holds out what looks to be a semi-ancient bracelet with glowing inlays and a large teal sphere gem. With a shimmer of light bouncing off of it Sonic’s eyes widen once he realizes what it is.

“Whoa, is that the bracelet Chip gave me?! I haven’t seen that in ages! I thought we locked that away in the memorabilia case?”

“It was originally, allow me to explain. I decided to do some organizing today and I came across all the research me and Professor Pickle had collected before and during our time in Spagonia. While sifting through it all, I got caught up on the parts that mention both forces gaining power from the sun and moon.”

Tails walked over and gestured to one of his blueprint sketches laying on the end of his workbench.

“I first got the idea of possibly making some kind of super powered solar panel that also can capture moonlight, but as I kept reading about how Light and Dark Gaia gain and use the power they obtain my mind got sidetracked with a different idea.”

Sonic raised a questioning eyebrow. “OH-Kaaaayyyyy, but how did that result in a modified bracelet?”

“I know patience is not your forte, but wait for it. I’m getting to the best part.” The young fox walked over to one of his large monitors that showed a schematic of said bracelet before continuing.

“I remembered that the bracelet is the only thing we had here from our time over there and I really didn’t want to have to plan a trip to go all the way over there just for one artifiact. So I took the bracelet out and when I hooked it up to a power meter I was surprised it actually still holds a charge.”

The blue hedgehog looked over the now updated bracelet. “Really? Even after the battle I went through and that both deities were put to rest? I thought for sure that thing held nothing in it.”

“Crazy isn’t it? Now whether or not the residual power is from Light or Dark Gaia or some odd mixture of both I still don’t know. Of course that didn’t stop me from testing it and modifying it.”

Tails gestures to said bracelet Sonic is holding. “What you have in your hand is an updated version. Utilizing the somehow constant energy source it produces should allow a temporary boost in strength and agility to its wearer. I thought that after our last battle we could use it in desperate situations as a backup like when you don’t have a chaos emerald, but could really use a good boost to your natural abilities.”

Sonic nodded his head as he thought back to his most recent battle with his archnemesis. Egg-head really wasn’t thrilled about having his plans disrupted by him and his friends, mind you the SECOND time that day. So much where he thought the mad doctor ACTUALLY went insane because the amount of death threats and robots with razor sharp saw blades coming to give him a new haircut was a little more intense than usual. After almost being crushed and nearly losing a few fingers he would have loved to get an extra boost in strength at that moment.

The cobalt hedgie thought this had to be one of Tails’ top tier ideas this year as this could definitely come in handy in some of the more nasty fights he can get himself into.

“So when can we give this thing a test run buddy? I wonder if we can get Knuckles away from the Master Emerald long enough to help out. I’m sure ol’ Knucklehead would love to throw around some harder punches.”

“Hold on Sonic. Let me run one more baseline reading on both you and the bracelet before you put it on.”

Tails proceeds to place the modified bracelet on a small scanner and tells Sonic to lay down on the table scanner before starting the process. Once he has a baseline for the test they both walk to the wideopen spot in the workshop just in case something happens. With a data pad in hand and cameras recording Tails decides everything is ready.

“Alright Sonic I’m all set. You’re good to go!”

Sonic takes one last look at the bracelet and then at his fox friend. “Dude if this chops off my hand you will either find a way for me to regrow it or you will be building me the coolest robot hand ever to exist.”

“It’s not going to do that Sonic.”

 _At least I hope not._ Tails thought to himself before giving his bro the thumbs up.

With maybe a hand to lose Sonic threw caution into the wind like most things he did and slipped the bracelet on. After a good few seconds going by and nothing happening the hedgehog relaxed and turned his wrist around to look at it.

“I guess I’m in the clear and hey I still got my hand. Nice!”

“Did it seriously do nothing? Do you feel ANY different than before? Stronger? Anything at all?” Tails’ namesakes swished back and forth expressing mild irritation and disappointment.

“Sorry buddy. I guess not.”

Sonic began walking back to where Tails was standing, but when he crossed a patch of sunlight filtering in from the skylight the bracelet made several clicking noises and began to glow, catching the attention of both of them.

“Uhh, I take that back. It’s now doing something.” The cobalt hedgehog brings his wrist up in plain view taking notice of how the band seemed to reformat itself and the two small pieces that raised on either side of the now vibrant teal gem.

Being the quick thinking genius he is, Tails realised what caused it. “Sonic look where you're standing! That patch of direct sunlight must have activated it, so some of that internal power does originate from Light Gaia. How do you feel now?”

Sonic took a moment to think while looking himself over. “I look the same and I feel pretty good. Actually I feel better than ok like I’ve got a bit more energy.”

“Hmmm. Interesting. Well that seems to add up with my own hypothesis, but I’d like to take a new readout to get more detail on what changed. Take it off and then hop onto the table.”

Tails started to walk back to his laptop and get everything set up when a surprised yell of pain was let out behind him. Quickly turning around to see what happened only to find his best friend doubled over in pain.

“Sonic! What-”

“Holy shit that stings SO badly, but I think I'm okay. I think…”

Taking a closer look, Sonic was on his knees clutching his forearm and two small beads of blood leaking from the bracelet around his wrist. Tails immediately went and got the first aid kit and began to carefully wipe away the lost blood and see if he needed to patch up any wounds. As the fox began to look over the bracelet and Sonic’s wrist he found out that the wounds were impossible to reach given they were under the band.

After catching his breath and letting the stinging sensation subside, Sonic made a curious noise. “Hey Tails, these two pieces here are now in place and when I try to shift the bracelet I get a shooting pain in my wrist. I don’t think I can take it off.”

“Honestly Sonic I’m not sure why this happened, but I definitely wouldn’t advise trying to take it off. I'm sure whatever those pieces are have temporarily imbedded themselves into you. I- I’m so sorry.”

The speedster knew that sad look of his closest friend starting to internally berate himself for causing this. “Tails, it’s honestly okay. Besides the initial pain of it attaching itself I’m feeling completely normal. It’ll probably be sensitive for a while, but nothing I can’t handle. What we need to do now is figure out why it’s done this and how to fix this. And I know if anyone can figure it out it’s you buddy.”

Tails took a few deep breaths to prevent any tears from falling. Even to this day he still can’t handle seriously injuring his adoptive brother. Inspired by Sonic’s motivational talk he finally looks up.

“You’re right and thanks. Now let's figure out what changed and go from there. Sorry for changing your plans, but you’ll have to cancel your evening run. I’m not sure how long this could take.”

“Well you know me. I’d drop anything to help my bro.”

The young fox gives Sonic an accusing look. “So then explain to me why you took off after giving me a shoddy excuse about why you couldn’t help with washing the dishes yesterday?”

Sonic scratches the side of his cheek while standing up and letting the false innocence coat his words. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about Tails, but I’m sure we have more important things to attend to.”

Tails sighs and rolls his eyes to walk towards his workbench. “Uh huh. Sure you don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this story I've got brewing here.~


	2. Take It Up a Notch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fyi, In this story Sonic and Shadow have been rivals/frenemies for YEARS. So Shadow has built up a bit of tolerance with interacting with people.

After several hours of scans, testing, and near constant flipping through pages of research, Tails had come to the conclusion that due to the strong emotional memories Chip had experienced with Sonic on their adventure it had left an imprinted form of power on the bracelet. Physical tests showed that Sonic had more energy on top of his already hyperactive tendencies and had stronger durability given he could spin dash right through an electrified forcefield without faltering and had little to no damage to his person.

The main downside is that the bracelet has indeed latched onto Sonic’s wrist and any attempt to remove it causes it to contract tighter and send a searing jolt of pain up the hedgehog's arm. Tails also discovered that Sonic’s natural chaos energy has been altered, but some fluctuations seem to indicate there’s a strong chaos force lingering dormant in the background.

The young fox could not have been more thankful that he convinced Sonic to at least wear a mini wrist communicator since said hedgehog refuses to carry a cell phone. A simple software update now allows Tails to monitor his best friend’s energy levels in case something flares up.

While the duo were busy trying to figure out this mess Amy had stopped by with food from her cooking class. Sonic and Tails gladly shoving their faces full of delicious food given that they both really haven’t eaten dinner yet. All while Amy is trying to wrap her head around the information she was just given.

“So let me get this straight. You wanted to create a bracelet that gave the wearer an advantage using residual power from possibly both Gaia forces. Which, mind you, are considered very powerful deities. Then went ahead with it anyway and as a result it’s now physically attached itself to Sonic’s wrist. On top of that you’re still unsure if this may have long lasting effects or might do something to Sonic at a later point.”

The two boys share a knowing look before nodding.

“I swear this is why you guys need me in your lives. Rushing into things isn’t always a good thing.”

Sonic leans back in his chair giving a lazy shrug. “I’m not sure why you’re so bothered by it Ames. I’ve proven countless times that I can handle Chaos Emerald power and even to the point where I’ve gone Super Sonic multiple times with no problem. Dealing with Light and Dark Gaia power should be like a walk in the park for me.”

“And here I thought that after your 22nd birthday you would have gained a little more common sense and self preservation.” Amy said with all the sarcasm she could fit into her comment.

The cobalt hedgie could only laugh it off knowing she was only teasing. Interacting with Amy now is definitely a monumental shift from how it used to be when they were younger. The constant chasing and clingy behavior was fun for a while, but Sonic did eventually find it suffocating to the point of finding ways to avoid spending too much time around the pink hedgehog. As they grew older, figured out some things about themselves, and had some serious one-on-one talks things had dialed down to a more tolerable level. Now they were able to hang out, eat food together, and actually enjoy each other's company without the fear of forced romantic motives.

Turning her attention to Tails, Amy wanted to make sure they had some kind of backup plan. “I’m happy to know you’re at least monitoring Mr. Speed Demon over there, but what I haven’t heard a plan for is when Sonic gets frustrated or angry.”

The two tailed fox gives a weary smile.

“You didn’t think of one, did you?”

“Ah ahah, no. Not really but since you brought it up we can think of one now!”

After a long debate on what kind of measures they should take if Sonic’s moods have some influence on any negative effects it was decided that some kind of power draining cage/ forcefield should be made or a tranquilizer to at least slow him down. Of course nothing can hold Sonic for too long, so they made sure everyone had Knuckles' comlink number. Then it was decided if things were REALLY bad Tails will contact Shadow if absolutely necessary. Both Sonic and Amy shared a look realizing that Tails apparently had no problem hacking the dark hedgehog’s personal communicator.

Sonic kicked his feet up and got into a semi-comfortable position. “And you were worried Ames. We got this! Plus, Eggman has kept quiet for some time given the fact that he had to pick up whatever is left of his pride.”

An explosion goes off in the distance and several of Tails’ warning systems start blaring. Both Amy and Tails turn towards Sonic with the ‘You just had to open your big mouth’ look.

“Ehehe, well that was conveniently timed. What’s Ol’ Egg-head up to this time? And so soon?”

The three walk over to Tails’ monitor setup to see if it will shed any light on the situation. Knowing what they just discussed it was better to be a little more prepared this time around. The young fox brings up several video feeds including ones from a satellite and the news.

“Looks like Dr. Eggman is near the canyon and by the looks of it he’s trying to dig up something. OH! Shadow is already there and making a big mess of things!”

Sonic steps back and pulls a few stretches. “If he’s there then I’m missing out on all the action standing here. You guys catch up in the X-Tornado, I’ll see ya there!”

“Sonic Wa- and he’s gone. Impulsive as ever. Come on Tails, no time to lose.”

“Agreed.”

An equipment check and quick trip in the X-Tornado had the two just outside the battlefield. It was already looking like a decent fight seeing that both Sonic and Shadow were taking on this massive thing that was definitely more than just a drilling robot.

Amy and Tails decided to see if they could get some information from one of the nearby terminals to see what Eggman was actually up to here. The young genius hooked his laptop up and kept his head down low to dig through files while Amy fought off some lower class badniks.

“Back off tinhead! Find anything yet Tails?” Amy said pounding the last robot into pieces.

“Not quite. Lots of research on a specific ancient lore though and- WAIT! Found it! He seems to be looking for something called the Reversi Stone!”

“The what now? Did he find it already?”

“According to this, not yet. But if we don’t stop Eggman this could get bad. Whatever this stone is we definitely DON’T want him to have it!”

The sound of heavy metal crunching drew their attention.

“OH HO HO HO! That’s it Drill Bot 5000! Puree these meddlesome rats into the ground!” Dr. Eggman could be heard cackling over the sound of rock pieces being ground up.

“Drill Bot 5000? Couldn’t come up with anything more creative Egg-Head? You’re really lacking in the name game I see.” Sonic said while ricocheting a boulder back at the hulking robot.

“It’s gonna be a whole new level of lame if you start naming things with -inator at the end.”

“And it’s going to be unfortunate when you end up on my dissection table! LAUNCH HOMING MISSILES!”

A series of rockets fire out from the chest of the robot, locking direction onto Sonic and Shadow. The blue blur manages to evade each rocket by making nearly impossible hairpin turns while the darker hedgehog simply blows up the ones locked on him with several chaos spears.

“AAAHHUURRRRGGAHHHH! You hedgehogs have been a pain in my ass for too long recently! Drill Bot 5000 Activate second phase!”

The two male hedgies took this moment of reprieve to watch as the massive robot shifted armor plates around and Eggman went on some last minute rant.

Sonic brushed off some of the dirt in his quills. “He just doesn’t know when to give up. I almost feel bad for the guy. Almost.”

Shadow on the other hand gave his shoulder one good rotation. “As much as I enjoy the doctor getting his ass handed to him in a rather pathetic way I grow tired of this fight.”

“Aw man and here I thought we’d have more time to banter back and forth.”

The dark male shoots Sonic a glare.

“Alright, alright. Yeesh. Hey Shads, looks like all the armor is on its arms.”

“Which has left the chest cavity exposed. You distract it while I set off the remaining rockets located internally.” Said more like a statement, Shadow was gone in a flash.

“No room for argument I see.”

Sonic took off right towards the now top-heavy robot making himself an open target for massive fists trying to flatten him into a pancake. The speedster was a bit surprised how fast this thing could react given its size. Eventually chaos spears flew out of the robot, starting a chain reaction. The robot was barely functional at this point, a few more hits would destroy it. The bright colored explosions distracted Sonic long enough for one of the hands to come barreling down on him and giving him the biggest sense of déjà vu.

_ Definitely could use some super strength right about now. _ Sonic thought to himself trying to hold out.

Shadow had teleported out just in time, but saw his long time rival being crushed into the ground. He teleported onto what remains of the robot’s forearm, striking chaos spears into the elbow joint to sever hydraulic points when a teal and purple light burst from below the robotic fist. Sensing a large spike in chaos energy, the dark hedgehog teleported a good distance away and what he saw made quite the show.

Bursting through the metal hand was this dark, navy blue colored fuzzball. A very angry fuzzball it seems. Sonic had not turned into his werehog form in several years since his battle against Dark Gaia, but oh did it feel great to be this strong again. Breaking off robotic fingers, tearing into thick metal, and shredding it as if it was mere paper. With a shout that started with a growl the navy beast tore off the robot’s arm and then proceeded to use it as a weapon to fully break the robot.

“Well that was unexpected. I think I’ll take my leave now.” Dr. Eggman decided to hightail it out of there while he still could.

Tails and Amy ran over to where Shadow was watching Sonic go overkill on the already deactivated robot. Tearing apart the pieces like a dog ripping open a pillow and shaking it around. Realizing he had company, the dark hedgehog decided to end the irritating silence.

“Miss Rose. Miles. What the hell am I looking at?”

Amy spoke up given the fact that Tails was preoccupied with his laptop at the moment. “A sight to see isn’t it? The first time I saw Sonic like that I didn’t recognize him at all.”

“The first time? This has happened before?”

“Yes. Why don’t you- OH that’s right! You were never around for that adventure. This was during the time when the planet had split into pieces and Sonic used this form to help put the planet back together. I know it’s probably confidential, but I’ve got to ask where you were during that time because I am actually surprised you never showed up at all.”

Shadow took a moment to even consider entertaining this conversation before huffing in annoyance. “GUN kept me more than preoccupied. Strict orders to not involve myself, but they would keep a watchful eye on Sonic. I’ve only seen reports about what he did.”

A stretch of quiet was the perfect moment for Tails to speak up. “Hey guys, I think I have something you may wanna hear.”

The young fox sat on the ground sifting through information he gathered on his laptop. “So while Sonic is blowing off steam over there. We can have a chat about what’s going on.”

A drawing of an ancient stone popped up on the screen. It was oval shaped, with symbols written all over it, and had three small gems that were connected by glowing inlays.

“So first off the list Dr. Eggman was looking for this, the Reversi Stone. It supposedly has the ability to make a person act and say things they normally would repress or respectfully keep quiet about. Essentially, you can make someone say what they truly mean or act on impulse rather than thinking about doing something. The stone is said to be located in that temple Eggman dug up.”

Amy relaxed a little and sighed. “Good thing we scared him off then.”

“Yeah. This second part is about Sonic and his condition. If my readings are correct the bracelet Sonic is wearing has a diluted mixture of power from both Light and Dark Gaia. Because Chip, Light Gaia, wore it like a necklace and never took it off until he separated from Sonic it has some imprinted memories. Said memories apparently include the werehog form, so there might be a connection with familiarity and association. Which is probably why Sonic turned into that beastly form in the first place.”

“If this beast form is a hindrance and the bracelet is the source then just take it off.” Shadow spoke up, but due to being quiet for so long it startled Amy and Tails.

“Chaos. Not to be rude, but I thought you left. I didn’t realize you were still here.” Amy said, trying to get her heart rate down.

“Hmph.” Was all the response Amy got.

Tails rubbed the back of his head. “We can’t Shadow. The bracelet is physically and rather gruesomely attached to Sonic’s wrist. Trying to remove it involves lots of pain to Sonic and quite a bit of blood. It’s as if the bracelet doesn’t want to be removed until it says so.”

“How unfortunate.” The striped hedgie said with little to no concern.

“I know the sun has set, but I can’t just leave this place knowing Eggman might come back tonight to find that stone. By how desperately he was digging and how angry he was when we showed up, I have a gut feeling that stone IS somewhere in that temple. Shadow, I don’t know why you were here before us and I know you like to do things on your own, but would you be willing to help us find it?”

Shadow gave it some thought before responding. “I will help you on one condition. We do things my way.”

Amy and Tails shared a look before nodding. It went unspoken but they both knew that being on Shadow’s good side will help later down the line.

Shadow looked at the huffing beast trying to catch its breath in the distance. For once he was rather amused to see how this all plays out.

“Hey, Faker!”

Sonic’s ears flicked and turned his attention to the dark hedgehog with a piercing stare.

“Get over here. We’re going on a treasure hunt and you’re gonna sniff it out for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things start to get interesting~


	3. Treasure Hunting Buddies

“UGH. I’m happy Shadow tolerates us enough to help out from time to time, but I dislike how he has to be in control of every situation he’s involved in.” Amy huffs in annoyance.

Here she was standing outside the temple entrance with Tails on “look out”. She knew very well that Shadow thought they were useless at the moment, so he came up with an excuse to keep them away.

_ Typical antisocial Shadow.  _ The pink hedgie thought while leaning against the wall.

Tails was seated on the ground typing away on his laptop. He was trying to dig through some more files he managed to swipe from Eggman’s terminal before it got destroyed. The two tailed fox got a rough schematic on the temple itself and that the probability of there being traps was very high. He made sure to forward any crucial information to Shadow and Sonic.

“As fun as treasure hunting sounds, with the amount of traps mentioned in these files I feel better sitting out here.”

“Have you come across anything else about the stone?” Amy gave a questioning look.

“Not really. I have a translator program running to make things a bit easier to understand, but even then things are a little wonky. The people that worshiped the Reversi Stone are either talking in riddles or are just vague about everything in general.”

“I hope those two are okay in there.”

“I’m sure everything is just fine.”

__Inside the temple.__

Sonic’s lower toned voice broke the silence that had fallen over the two ever since they stepped inside the temple. “Ya know, just because I look like this does NOT mean I’m going to be at your beck and call.”

Shadow let out a short chuckle. “Oh really? Well that’s too bad, here I thought I’d have to get a collar and leash for you.”

Sonic immediately looks at his rival with surprise only to see the horrified and slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

“I take it you didn’t mean to make that sound as sexual as it did?” Sonic let out a small snort, trying not to full on laugh.

“It was meant to be demeaning, Faker! I should have worded it better.”

Sonic couldn’t help but let out a deep chuckle. “Honestly, I don’t think you could word that sentence in any way where it wouldn’t come out dirty.”

“Tch.” Shadow clicks his tongue and shoves himself ahead, ending THAT conversation quickly.

_ He’s more irritating than before. _ Shadow thought to himself while navigating this maze of a temple

The ebony hedgehog thought bringing Sonic along would give himself an ego boost, but all it’s done is push him further into wanting to choke the giant furrball. He hates how cocky his rival is now, more than usual that is.

From his observation, Shadow has figured out that this werehog form has replaced all of Sonic’s speed with pure strength and durability. He does find it odd that he must look up to the large beast due to him being four times his original size. The elastic arms is another thing he finds weird about this form. It’s so unnatural and that’s saying something given the fact that he was created in a test tube.

The duo eventually come across an open circular chamber with a very high ceiling. Everything had cool tone colors with hints of yellow and had reflective mosaic pieces all over the walls. Several stone pillars lining the edge of the room held up the second level. The whole room gives off a very ominous atmosphere putting them edge.

“Oh yeah, something is going to happen in here. This room screams trap and or mini boss fight.” The navy beast said as he curiously looked around the room.

Shadow decides to stick to the outskirts while Sonic makes his way to the center to get a better look at how they might reach the second level. The ebony hedgehog came across a painted wall taking a moment to decipher what the pictures actually meant before stepping back in surprise.

“SONIC, WAIT! DON’T WALK OVER THE-”

A loud KER-CHUNK noise echoed in the room along with a set of grinding noises followed by the sound of heavy objects shifting around and below them. More towards the middle, Sonic was lifting his foot off the seamless pressure plates that triggered the trap.

“Ehehehe, whoops.” The navy beast slowly turned to the smaller hedgehog who was giving him a death glare from across the room.

The whole middle part of the room began to rise up from the ground, but once it was about halfway a set of open holes was revealed and water started to rush out. They had to act fast if they didn’t want to drown. Well Sonic would given he still can’t swim and his phobia of drowning is still very much a thing. The werehog had hoped they would have to fight some kind of guard monster or something, but once he saw the water his mind went into overdrive.

“Oh nononononono- This body will definitely weigh me down and make me DROWN in seconds! Shadow you can teleport us up to the doorway on the second level right?! Shadow?”

Shadow was looking down at his hands with the most confused look. A closer look revealed only small chaos sparks were forming around the dark hedgehog’s hands. “There must be a chaos dampener here! I can’t use chaos control or any chaos based abilities for that matter.”

Once Sonic realized there would be no “quick” way to safety he looked around the room and a light went off in his head once seeing several ledges start to shift outwards. Not really caring if Shadow had a different plan the navy beast pretty much manhandled the smaller hedgehog, grabbed the closest ledge pulling the both of them upwards, and yelled out for him to grab onto his long quills. Shadow did so even though he hated being told what to do, but this gave him time to see how this werehog form did in risky situations.

Sonic began climbing, jumping from ledge to ledge, and effectively using his elastic arms like a grappling hook. The water kept rising and a thick sheet of glass was shifting over the open space to eventually seal off the first floor. Of course the two made it just in time to watch the glass floor lock in place and the water filled all the way to the top making it clear that if they got trapped there would be no place to get air.

The now frazzled werehog was laying on his back far from the center of the room catching his breath. His ears pinned themselves back when he started to scowl at the liquid just under Shadow’s feet.

“Water. It’s always water. Why can’t it be a boss fight or maybe just a complex puzzle? Why must it always be water traps? It’s like the universe made sure I would encounter every kind of water trap that could be created.”

Shadow glanced at Sonic before taking a look down the only doorway on this level. “Fear is one of the hardest fights to overcome. Many do not even come close to succeeding and the universe knows this very well.”

The navy beast got up and made his way over to where his rival was standing. He let out a deep toned growl that surprisingly set Shadow on edge. “Ugh, the universe can go fuck itself then. No more water traps, I hate them and it’s annoying.”

The ebony hedgehog could only stare at his rival in mild shock.  _ Did I seriously see and hear Sonic be negative? _ He couldn’t quite process that Sonic, happy-go-lucky always thinking positive Sonic, was being so openly pessimistic.

Shadow let his long time rival lead them down the hallway just so he could sort through some of his thoughts. This werehog form has done more than just mess with Sonic’s abilities and physical appearance. It has brought out some of the physical reactions and comments the blue blur would normally keep to himself. Even after all these years and a promise they made to each other to not bottle their emotions up, it seems both of them still struggle to be completely transparent. Amy was right that their progress in “companionship” is moving very slow. Not that he would admit that out loud.

Eventually the two came to an intersection that split left and right. Fortunately they didn’t have to decide because the left hallway was completely caved in. They walked side by side down yet another long hallway, the sound of their footsteps was the only thing filling the apparent silence. Suddenly the lanterns lining the walls were extinguished and plunged the whole hallway into complete darkness.

Sonic let out an irritated growl. “Man, I can’t see anything at all and I bet neither can you. Too bad this form didn’t give me night vision. Right Shads?”

Shadow let out an amused chuckle. “Speak only for yourself, Faker. I can see perfectly fine.”

That statement causes the navy beast to look at where Shadow’s voice had come from and found himself looking at two barely noticeable glowing light green rings around what he assumed to be Shadow’s pupil. In all the years Sonic knew his rival this was yet another little thing he never knew.

“You ACTUALLY have night vision?! Why haven’t you told me?! That’s so cool!”

The ebony hedgehog could only shake his head and scoff at Sonic’s genuine surprise. “Do you really think the scientists who created me wouldn’t add such a simple, but effective tactical advantage? Remember who you’re talking to, I’m the ultimate lifeform. I’ll lead and you listen for anything else abnormal.”

Sonic couldn’t really argue with that and he definitely didn’t say anything when the normally reserved hedgehog held onto his arm to lead him down the pitchblack hallway. Another plus side to this form is that his hearing capabilities were increased making his listening task much easier. The werehog also kept track of how close the soft clunk noise Shadow’s rocket shoes made so he wouldn’t accidentally step on the smaller hedgehog’s heels. Knowing the spikes on his shoes can definitely do some serious damage if he wasn’t careful around others.

Coming to a stop Shadow starts to look around as the doorway is blocked, but he can feel an energy force behind the door in front of them.

Sonic makes a confused noise. “Something wrong? What do you see?”

“We are in front of a closed door we need to open. The writing around the door suggests there’s a way to release a set of weighted locks keeping the door in place. I’m looking for some kind of switch or hidden mechanism.”

Sonic found himself oddly entranced by the small green rings shifting about looking for something he couldn’t see. Said green rings eventually locked with his own for a moment before shifting away and the sound of Shadow clicking his tongue in annoyance could be heard. The navy beast knew it just went unspoken that he should NOT stare so intently at his rival’s eyes. Sonic then shifted his attention to what he could hear, ears tilting and rotating to hear better without having to move. He did pick up on a very small clicking noise to his left and slowly walked towards the noise.

“Shadow there’s something over here. Can you see anything?”

The striped hedgehog took a really good look at the wall Sonic was referring to and eventually came across the only stone piece with a bevel on it. When it was pressed the sound of weighted blocks moving and a chain rattling echoed down the hall. Then a small sliver of light began to seep from under the large door. The minimal light was just enough for Sonic to make out the long bar at the bottom of the door. He decided to just go ahead and lift said door open with his strength to reveal a rather bright room with a statue in the center. Shadow walked in first and then Sonic due to the fact that once he let go of the door it shut once more.

The large werehog let out a whistle taking in the whole room. Lots of white marble pillars and flooring and everything had some kind of small gold inlay on it. Intricate mosaic pictures adorned the surrounding walls. In the center of the room was a large statue holding some kind of staff in one hand and what looks to be the Reversi Stone in the other.

Sonic carefully activated his communicator, which had automatically resized itself for his large wrists, to bring up it’s camera function to take a few pictures knowing Amy would love to add these to her adventure scrapbook. “Wow, this place is fancy.”

“I hate it.”

Sonic turned his attention to the dark hedgehog who was currently giving the large statue in the middle of the room the nastiest scowl. “Really? I would have thought even you would find this place beautifully pristine.”

Shadow turned his uncomfortable gaze on Sonic. “This room is beautifully designed… and that’s why I hate it. The almost ethereal atmosphere here. It’s too pristine. Too perfect. Things like that usually give a false sense of calm and safety. Falling for it never ends well.”

Sonic would normally joke about Shadow being too tense or paranoid, but the more he thought about what his rival said made some kind of sense to him. Taking another look around he now realizes the meaning behind Shadow’s words. The room has this almost suffocating angelic feeling which now sets him on edge.

The ebony hedgehog walks up to the front of the statue and the first thing he notices is the glowing stone located in the hand of the statue. The second is the empty spots in the bottom stone platform as if something was missing from them. He then spotted Sonic looking at the nearest wall that had some kind of storytelling mural on it and in the center of the picture was a square gem.

Sonic was able to pick up on the shift in Shadow’s chaos energy and could guess that his rival was staring at him. He decided now was a good time to speak up about how he found this mural strange.

“Hey Shads come take a look at this. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it seem like this piece here could be removed?”

Shadow walked over to get a better look. “That’s what I thought. The engravings on this gem are congruent with the ones on the statue’s platform. But don’t take it out just yet, I have a feeling there’s more to this than just removing them and putting them in the correct place.”

The duo began going over the entire mural that seemed to connect itself from one section of wall to the next. Upon figuring out that they need to take out the pieces in chronological order and then place them in their designated spot within every twenty seconds they quickly got to work. Sonic would grab the large gems from the wall and use his elastic arms to hand them over quickly so Shadow can place them into its correct holder right on time. Once all five gems were locked in place the statue’s arm holding the Reversi Stone was rotated downward from the shoulder. A doorway revealed itself off to the side and from what they could see it was their exit.

Sonic was about to grab the stone before stopping himself and looking at Shadow examining the arm. “This feels like that scene in Indiana Jones where he has to swap out the golden idol.”

Shadow gives the large beast a confused look. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about faker, but what I do know is that this arm is weight balanced. You take that stone and I’m almost positive it will set off another trap.”

“Another one added to the already large list of movies Shadow hasn’t seen. When you don’t have a mission with GUN we’re having another movie marathon. I say let's take the stone and make a beeline for that exit.”

“And what happens if the hallway walls and ceiling start to close in and you’re not fast enough?”

“Well that’s why I’ve got you! You can just use your crazy strength, pick me up, and blast us out of here with your rocket shoes!”

“That’s idiotic. You place too much trust in me. What happens if I don’t stop for you?”

Sonic gives Shadow an oddly soft look. “Would you seriously leave me behind?”

A stretch of silence before Shadow sighs. “No, but that’s not the point.”

“It doesn’t matter then. Everything will be okay! Now let's do this.”

Both hedgehogs took a moment to collect themselves before Sonic grabbed the Reversi Stone. Sure enough the arm jolted back into its original position and then the whole place began to shake. They took off down the hallway that was starting to fall apart. Sonic found he could move faster running like a feral animal, so he placed the stone in his mouth and really put some power into launching himself with his arms. To make matters worse a particular dark colored hedgie might have jinxed it and the ceiling at the end was beginning to slowly move down to close off their exit. Begrudgingly, Shadow decided to slow down a bit so if he really did need to pick Sonic up he wouldn’t have to backtrack. They however made it out just in time to watch the exit seal itself.

Sonic had dropped the stone from his maw into his hand to start flicking it towards the ground to get some of his spit off it. “Uhhh… I’ll just hold onto it for a bit.”

Shadow gave his rival a disgusted look and rolled his eyes walking towards the cliffside. “We ended up on the upper levels of this canyon. I can see your friends from here.”

The navy beast walked over to look over the edge and in the far distance he could spot Amy and Tails chatting. He decided to call his best friend via communicator.

“SONIC! I’m glad to hear from you! We heard all this rumbling echoing out and we got a little worried.”

“Same here buddy! It was nothing we couldn’t handle. Me and Shads ended higher up on the canyon.”

Shadow speaks up in that moment. “Look to your left for a Chaos Spear.”

No sooner does Shadow chuck a spear out into the open.

“Oh I see you guys! You’re not too far from the top ledge so make your way up there. Me and Amy will meet you there in the X-Tornado.”

“See ya soon!”

Without another word both hedgehogs made quick work getting up to the top and watching Tails’ plane come in for a landing. Amy and Tails hopped out making their way over to them.

“Did you get the Reversi stone?” The young fox says with a smile.

Sonic raised it and smirked. “Several traps and a puzzle later. Though I had to carry it in my mouth so you might wanna wipe it off.”

Both Tails and Amy made a face at that statement. The young genius did however pull a cleaning rag from one of the pouches on his belt. He took the stone and began to wipe it off as well as look it over.

“Hmm. This seems to be the stone, but it’s not glowing like some of the descriptions said. I wonder if there’s something that might activate it. We should head back to my workshop to get this thing analyzed.”

Sonic puts a hand on his stomach. “Oh good idea and while we’re there I can get some food. I’m starving.”

Amy gives the navy beast a look. “Sonic it’s like 1 o’clock in the morning. Are you seriously that hungry?”

“It takes a lot of energy to fuel this form. So yes, I am.”

Tails places the stone into one of his pouches before turning to the group. “Well lets head back so we can get a jumpstart on this and to run a few last tests on you Sonic. I want to know if anything changed when you guys were in that temple.

Amy lightly grabbed Sonic’s arm and had a broad smile stretched across her face. “And I want to know what it was like in there and what kind of traps and puzzles you encountered. Hopefully you took at least one picture.”

“Don’t worry Ames I thought of ya and got a few snaps. But seriously guys I’m so hungry.”

Tails nodded. “Let’s get going. Shadow you’re welcome to tag along too.”

The dark hedgehog shook his head making his quills bounce slightly. “I… appreciate the offer, but I have to decline. I am to report to GUN to see if I’m being sent out on another mission.”

Sonic let out a small whine that would have normally gone unnoticed if he was in his normal body, but because of his current beastly nature it ended up louder than intended so it caught everyone’s attention. He cleared his throat and looked off to the side, purposefully ignoring the sound he just made.

“Well that’s a bummer, but hey if ya got time drop by don’t be a stranger alright.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow before smirking. “Whatever, Faker.”

In a flash the Ultimate Lifeform was gone. Everyone else hopped onto the X-Tornado to fly back to Tails’ workshop. There were stories to be told, testing to do, and lots of food to be eaten by Sonic.

Surely things couldn’t get weirder than what has happened already. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonder what could possibly happen next? :3c


	4. From Bad to Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to jump straight to major plot points, so this was mostly a filler chapter that starts to lead up to the intense stuff. *shrugs*

Tails sat at the small table in the kitchen nursing some coffee and looking over his laptop. He let out a long sigh and swapped over to the live feed of his best friend currently sleeping soundly on the couch in his workshop.

The fox still felt bad about causing such a large inconvenience to Sonic, but was more than determined to find the solution. He was somewhat relieved that Sonic had yet to complain about not being able to go on long runs. His new form seemed to have dwindled the need for speed at the moment. Another swig of coffee and Tails decided to really start the day out strong by looking into Sonic’s latest scans.

One of the results that baffled him the most is that it was unclear how long Sonic will remain in his werehog form and if he will swap consistently between his normal self and the beast. Anger seemed to have been a big influence on him shifting over. Tails had a theory that the partial Dark Gaia energy picked up on the blue hedgehog’s normally suppressed anger and used it as a catalyst to fuel the shapeshifting.

Before he could get into another thought process, Tails had been alerted to the sound of heavy footsteps. Sonic had entered the room looking a bit disappointed. 

“Looks like I’m not gonna lose the fluff even with the daylight this time.” The massive beast said with a huff.

The twin tailed fox let out a tired sigh. “I wish I had more information for you Sonic, but things are still throwing me for a loop. Some of the previous research doesn’t connect with what's currently happening.”

The navy beast sat down and put a hand on Tails’ arm. “Hey now, don’t start doubting yourself. You were with me when this happened the first time and now you're here for the second round. If anyone can figure it out it’s you buddy.”

Sonic wrapped Tails in a comforting hug. Though with a small ‘thank you’ and a returned hug from the fox things took an interesting turn. Sonic at that moment had switched back to his old self. The two had pulled away looking rather astonished. Tails looked rather thoughtful while Sonic gave himself a look over to insure he was back to normal.

“Hmm… there’s one piece of my research that’s holding some ground.” The young fox turned back to his laptop to open a few files to add his findings.

“Another step forward. Tell me what ya got.” Sonic said with a bright smile. Eager to get some idea on what is going on.

“I’ll try to leave the more complex words out, but I make no promises.” Tails took a long swig from his coffee before turning his laptop so Sonic could see it better.

“So the data I collected from your battle with Eggman and readout I literally just took now there is one key factor they share in common.” Tails brought up a new diagram with two sets of data seeming to spike at certain levels.

“Your emotional state is part of why you transform.”

“My emotions? Really?” Sonic said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup. Emotions. Think about it, when you fought Eggman you got pretty upset and when I felt discouraged you felt the need to comfort me. Both actions had a significant emotional spike. One of anger and one of concern. My theory is that the bracelet not only feeds off of it’s existing power, but your emotional state as well. Causing the changes to your form.”

“That... could be a problem long term if I’m not careful.”

“Don’t stress too much about it Sonic. You’ll deal with it like you do most things. Running head first and rolling with the punches.”

After a long pause, the duo burst into a fit of giggles over how serious they have been for some time. It had been a very long day yesterday and both of them needed a good laugh. Sonic then got up to make himself and Tails a bowl of cereal.

“Well you’re not wrong there buddy.”

Sitting back down, the blue hedgehog handed over some much needed food. “So what’s up with ol’ Egghead and that temple we went through?”

“Oh, yeah!” Tails reached over and brought up another file on the stone they had retrieved.

“It was a good thing you and Shadow got that stone. Eggman definitely had no good intentions with it.”

The blue hedgehog nodded for his brother to continue given that he was stuffing his face with food.

“According to the information I snagged from Eggman’s terminal, he was going to put the stone in some kind of “truth” ray and ruin a lot of people’s lives with it.”

“Wow. A truth ray? Really? That’s pretty low on the bar of evil schemes even for Eggman. My guess is that he had no backup plans and scrambled to pull something together.”

“Well after you tore into that mining robot I’m pretty sure he decided to give up for a day or two. Although he might be putting a new plan together now that he knows about you shifting forms again.”

“Oh, right. Forgot about that. Ugh how annoying”

Tails could only stare at his adoptive brother. The small shift from Sonic’s cobalt blue to dark navy and back threw the fox for a complete loop. The connection to his emotions must be getting more prominent. Tails decides to finish off his food rather than mention Sonic’s physical slip up.

“Thanks for making breakfast, Sonic. I think I’m gonna head back to the workshop and see if I can get a few more details out of the data I’ve collected. Also do me a favor and head up to Angel Island and see if Knuckles can tell you if your natural chaos energy has changed. I wanna know before I start testing with the higher power stuff.”

Sonic grabbed both his and Tails’ empty bowls to put them in the sink. “Keep me posted and I’ll see what ol’ Knux has been up too. Been a while since I last saw him.”

“Same goes for you. If it sounds super important, call me ASAP.”

The twin tailed fox ran up to give Sonic a big hug before trotting off to his workshop. He couldn’t help but thank his big bro for always being there to cheer him up.

____A bit later on Angel Island____

Sonic meanders his way up the temple’s stairs finding his hotheaded friend relaxing in the sun next to the master emerald. Before the blue blur could even get a single word out Knuckles speaks up.

“Sonic this had better be good. ‘Cus you’re interrupting me from guarding the master emerald.”

The hedgehog could only let out a short chuckle. “Aw, come on Knux. Can’t a friend drop by to see if you’re even alive every now and again?”

“No, ‘cus every single time you show up there is either something bad happening, you bringing something bad with you, or you’re here to be the cause of a problem. Which all end up with me NOT keeping an eye on the master emerald.”

“Fair point.”

Knuckles lets out a deep sigh before slowly hauling himself off the ground to give an unpleasant glare and gestures with a wave of his hand for Sonic to continue.

“Okay, so I am the problem this time. Tails was trying to help out, but things took an unexpected turn and now I have this bracelet physically attached to my wrist that’s powered by Light and Dark Gaia energy. Tails needs to run some tests and one of them is to see if my natural chaos energy has changed. That’s mainly why I’m here, but hanging out with you is a plus.”

“You are like a magnet to major problems and danger. Every single time you come here it’s always somethin’ new. Is this a part of that whole werehog story you told everyone a few years back?”

“Yeah. Although this time I can shift forms no matter the time of day. Tails said something about it being connected to my chaos energy, internal emotional state, or something.”

The echidna sighs and rubs the back of his head trying to figure out how to go about this.

“Well let's see what I can pick up on through the master emerald. Don’t touch it until I tell you.”

Knuckles turns around to get close to the massive emerald before placing both his hands on the side of it. He takes a few deep breaths to focus his connection to get a base reading before telling Sonic to do the same. The moment Sonic touches the emerald Knuckles’ eyes shoot open and a rather uncomfortable expression makes it way onto his face. Sonic, of course, sees his reaction.

“Knux, buddy, that look on your face can’t be good. What’s the damage?”

With the wave of dark energy he just picked up on, the hot headed echidna quickly gets his expressions under control before his friend starts to freak out even more.

“From what I can sense your own energy signature has shifted into a more uncontrollable chaotic state. Normally, yours has a quick repetitive flow to it, seeming to never start up nor fully stop. This is different. It's trying to get back into its original state, but is completely unable to.”

“So what does that mean exactly?”

“Your natural chaos energy is out of alignment and you’re unable to reset it by yourself. I could try doing it for you with the master emerald as a guide, but that’s risky and not in a good thrilling kind of way.”

Sonic backs off breaking his connection with the large gem and it’s guardian. He walks over to the top of the staircase to sit down.

“Man, what am I gonna do? We don’t have that many options when it comes to solutions. I know everything will work out in the end, but it’s lookin’ real ugly right now. Should I call Tails so he can run some tests by you?”

Knuckles takes a moment to think about the situation. From what he can tell Sonic’s energy is becoming more and more unstable as time goes on. He had opted not to tell his friend that to avoid more unfavorable energy spikes. But if he lets things continue the way they are there’s a good chance Sonic will lose control of himself.

“Okay, I’ve carefully thought it over-”

“You? Being careful AND thinking?! Doesn’t sound like the Knuckles I know.”

“SHUT YOUR TRAP OR I’LL SHUT IT FOR YOU.”

Knuckles was a little more than irritated by the shit-eating grin that formed on the hero’s face.

“Like I was saying. I need you to get Tails up here before we start anything. I think we can start out by seeing how your energy reacts to having chaos energy inputted into your body. Then we’ll try to directly harmonize yourself with the master emerald to see if that helps. And if those don’t work I can try to even out your chaos wavelength manually, but that option is by far the most dangerous one.”

“Sounds like a plan dude. Honestly at this point I'm willing to try anything because I’m pretty sure it’s starting to affect the way I think and act.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Go call Tails.”

The two guys only had to wait twenty minutes before they could see the Tornado in the distance closing in fast. Once landed, they watched as Tails hopped out of his plane and flew up to the top level of the temple holding his portable tablet. The two tailed fox set up some scanners and brought up a live read on Sonic’s stats.

After several low level tests, Tails was hopeful to have a solution to this whole werehog problem. A long conversation and going over some safety precautions, the young fox had convinced Knuckles to attempt straightening out Sonic’s energy wavelength. 

“I’m all set guys! Hopefully this brings some new information I can actually use.”

Knuckles looked rather apprehensive to go on, but seemed to put on a brave face. “You guys are lucky I was in a good mood today. Sonic, whatever you do, do NOT break contact with the master emerald until I say so.”

The blue hedgie gives his buddy a thumbs up and places his hands on the massive emerald. “Can do Knux! We’ve got a back up plan if this goes sideways, but we probably won't need it.”

“Don’t jinx it.”

A moment of silence blankets over the three for a while before Knuckles places his own hands on the emerald. A flash of light green emanates from within the master emerald. Bands of light seem to be connecting from within the emerald into Sonic and Knuckles’ hands.

Of course this only lasted for a few minutes before a deep purple color sparked from Sonic’s arms and into the master emerald. Knuckles was blown back from an energy kickback, hitting one of the pillars surrounding the main platform. Tails flew over to the guardian to make sure he was okay, but the sound of Sonic growling and hissing pulled his attention. The young genius and the barely conscious echidna could only watch in horror as their friend was forced into a transformation. The navy beast let out a deafening howl before launching himself off the temple.

Tails helped Knuckles up before taking a look at his readings while the red echidna watched in disbelief.

“Tails this was such a mistake. The Dark Gaia energy that flows through him has bent his natural chaos energy so far out of line it rejected me. I couldn’t fix it and now I'm afraid that I made it worse.”

Tails could feel worry and fear as he watched the new data pour into his tablet. “These readings have gone beyond anything I’ve recorded to date! And it’s now affecting Sonic’s normal behavior, essentially making him more feral and unhinged!”

“That’s bad and all but lets not forget that he’s, oh I don't know, DESTROYING MY ISLAND CURRENTLY! Guess we're moving onto plan B, I’ll have to put the furball down.”

“Knuckles don’t-”

“HEY SONIC! I’M GONNA MAKE YOU EAT MY FIST IF YA DON’T KNOCK IT OFF! SO STOP DESTROYING MY ISLAND OR ILL FORCE YA TO!”

The next thing Knuckles knew is that he was being grabbed and forcibly thrown into the ground at the base of the temple. Pulling himself from the oddly echidna shaped hole in the ground, Knuckles could really see just how far gone his friend was. Sonic’s pupils were practically thin slits as he started to destroy things. The navy beast was figuratively and literally drooling with rage and charging right for him.

_Sonic wants a fight, eh? I’ll give him one and this time I’m not holding back._

Knuckles’ first hit landed squarely in Sonic’s face, sending the beast back near the edge of the forest. He then nearly avoided the sharp cleats that came in combo with a few ranged punches as the navy hedgehog got closer. The two had only traded a few more punches before Sonic grabbed Knuckles by his foot while he was down and proceeded to slam the guardian back and forth into the ground in an arc. On the third and final impact Knuckles had been knocked out cold.

The fight didn’t seem to have phased the werehog at all, who was now looking at Tails as if sizing him up as a potential competitor. The fox had already made the decision to use the secondary back up plan when he realized Knuckles wasn’t going to win. While looking at his unhinged best friend with fearful eyes, Tails opened a voice call with the only person he knew that could take on this beast.

“Please! Help me, Shadow! Sonic has gone off the deep end.”


	5. Deeper than Oceans

Tails could not have been happier for that bright green flash of light and instantly seeing one very intimidating black hedgehog. The fox ran over to hide behind the ultimate lifeform knowing it was better to get out of the way.

“Shadow! We tried a solution to fix Sonic but all it did was make things worse! He knocked out knuckles and now he’s got too much pent up energy from being in contact with the master emerald. Whatever you do, PLEASE don’t severely hurt him!”

Shadow could see the tears starting to well up in Tails’ eyes and it struck quite a strong chord with an emotion he’d deny feeling.  _ Interacting with Sonic and his silly friend group was softening out his edge. How unfortunate. _

“Miles, go help that red idiot while I deal with Sonic.”

With that Shadow teleported onto the ground in direct line of sight to Sonic. He started to circle towards the forest line to draw the hulking beast away from the master emerald. The ebony hedgehog had seen a snippet of what this werehog form was capable of, so he had a good idea of how their fight was going to happen.

A deep reverberating growl bubbled up from Sonic’s chest and the snarl plastered to his face showed off the sharp elongated canines. The navy beast puffed out his chest and took a fighting stance. Shadow immediately knew Sonic had sized him up and saw him as a worthy challenge.

_ Agility _ . Shadow thought.  _ The faker is all strength and durability, but I’m quicker. A few well placed hits should take Sonic down if I time my attacks right. Time to put this pup in its place.  _

“You really let yourself go, Faker. Being full blown unhinged doesn’t look good on you.” Shadow got into a fighting stance and gestured to Sonic to make the first move.

Sonic let out a howling yell and charged towards the dark hedgehog. Long claws lashed out in multiple swipes while Shadow expertly dodged them. The large beast never hesitated to claw, slash, punch, and kick, attempting to land a decent hit on his counterpart. Sonic managed to catch a few of his claws across the side of the dark hedgehog’s cheek causing them to ooze green blood.

The striped male retaliates by making a timed dodge to do a roundhouse kick against Sonic’s side. Using the navy beast’s disorientation he then promptly landed some powerful punches. Before Shadow could jump or teleport out of range Sonic had grabbed the dark hedgie’s hand mid punch, used some leverage to yank him forward, and punched Shadow square in the face. Sending the dark hedgehog soaring backwards a good distance.

The hybrid slowly stood up and kept his eyes locked on the beast while he wiped his muzzle.  _ Damn. He actually hit me hard enough to make my nose bleed. Oh, dear rival, you’re going to severely regret that.  _ Within the next second Shadow teleported repeatedly around Sonic to land several punches. Never staying still for too long to prevent the werehog from gaining any kind of advantage. The striped hedgehog made a quick grab at the beast’s torso, lifting him, and used a boost from his rocket shoes to perform a powerful suplex.

Shadow quickly got to his feet and while Sonic was dazed he put an extra charge of chaos energy into one final punch that effectively knocked his rival out.  _ That’s for breaking my nose, Faker. _ The hybrid turned his head slightly to spit out some blood that had made its way into his mouth.

Being so close to the master emerald, he was able to leech off some chaos energy to aid his own healing ability just to get his wounds to stop bleeding. He would fully heal them by himself soon enough. The majority of his muzzle was stained with green smears as he wiped most of it off with his hand. Shadow turned his head and saw two sets of eyes. One filled with shock and the other with deep concern.

Shadow was cautious to not disturb the sleeping beast, but quietly made his way over to his audience of two. “Before you even ask, yes, he’s fine. The blue idiot surprisingly put up a damn good fight.”

Tails let out a sigh of relief while covering his face with his hands. While Knuckles only grunted in acknowledgement.

“I could have handled it, but he got the jump on me early.” Knuckles said to cover for his fractured ego over being so easily beaten.

Shadow clicked his tongue, but let a smug smirk show. “That’s because you’re not as observant as me. Maybe one day you’ll be a worthy opponent, but that seems unlikely given your low brain capacity.”

“What!? Well… you cheated. You had an advantage because from what I saw you already knew how Sonic would fight. You-!”

Knuckles had abruptly stopped talking at the sound of a sob. Given that he was looking right at Shadow, who definitely wasn’t crying at all, he had one guess as to who was making that sound. The two of them immediately looked over to Tails who was slightly hunched over trying to keep his sobbing quiet. The red echidna new Shadow wasn’t going to say anything even though the guy looked deeply perturbed by the strong emotions Tails was showing.

The guardian pulled Tails into a comforting hug to help ease the tension. The young fox all but wailed into his friend’s shoulder. Sobbing out jumbled sentences revolving around the words of, it’s all my fault, he’s going to hate me, and I’m sorry. Knuckles started to make shushing noises to help further calm Tails down. Peeking out of the corner of his eye he noticed Shadow had turned himself away. Whether it was to give them space or to hide any incriminating emotions the guardian couldn’t know for sure. Once he got the young genius to settle down a bit he spoke up.

“Tails, buddy, it’s gonna be alright. Me and Shadow are just fine and Sonic is asleep. It’s not your fault any of this happened ‘cus you never meant any harm.”

Tails lifted his head and wiped at his wet cheeks. “But everyone was hurt because of my mistake.”

Knuckles sighed. “You were just trying to help. Heck, I was too. But now we have got a good understanding of what’s going on. I’m sure once ya take a look at your data you’ll find a solution to this. I believe in you, buddy. And Shadow does too!”

“I, what now?” The dark hedgie said with a questioning tone. But Knuckles gave an,  _ I’ll kill you _ , expression and mouthing the word  _ YES.  _ Surprisingly, Shadow played along after taking one look into Tails’ eyes.

“You... are the only one with the highest intellect to figure out a reasonable solution.”

Tails hiccuped and wiped his eyes some more before looking between Knuckles and Shadow. “Thanks guys. Sorry for being such a mess I just… really don’t like the idea of Sonic being seriously hurt, let alone me being the cause of it.”

Shadow chose that moment to walk back over to the now slumbering mass of fur called Sonic. He made sure he didn’t do too much damage like Tails had asked. The young genius may not be a physical fighter, but he’s not to be taken lightly. In some aspects the fox takes after the blue hedgehog which can make him dangerous in the long run when he sets his mind on something. Footsteps and the sound of Tails’ voice brought him back from his thoughts.

“Sonic’s readings had been all over the place until now. From what I'm seeing they hit some kind of plateau. As horrible as it sounds I think Sonic may remember the fight, but was unable to mentally keep himself in check.” Tails kept looking with sad eyes between his brother and his tablet.

Knuckles made a thoughtful sound. “Hmm. Well I can tell you that I no longer feel that chaotic and out of balance energy signature he was giving off earlier.”

There was a pause, before the guardian spoke up again. “Actually, I can’t sense anything but this small flicker. Shadow, what can you feel?”

The ebony hedgehog placed a hand on Sonic’s rather fluffy chest and after a moment he shook his head. “It’s faint. Nothing like it normally is.”

A surprised gasp moved the attention back onto Tails. The young fox seemed to light up like a light over something on his tablet.

“It wasn’t a fluke guys! The process just needed an extra step. Everything has reset except for Sonic’s appearance. Look.”

The two tailed fox turned his tablet so Shadow and Knuckles could see better. A graph with very scattered lines was seen, but it all hit a point and leveled out before skyrocketing low.

“My theory is that Knuckles had helped overload Sonic’s energy capacity, but it needed a place to ground itself hence why you got the kickback. Shadow ended up as the grounding agent we needed to get all the excess energy out.”

The striped male let out a huff as he crossed his arms. “That doesn’t explain why the faker still looks like this.”

“An emotional outburst like this should have switched him, but I think something is still at play. I need to compare my data back at my workshop to get a better idea.”

Knuckles tilted his head and stretched, letting out a tired sigh after taking a quick glance around the area. “I can check in later with you, but I just can’t bring myself to up and leave this area without fixing some of the damage.”

Tails took a real good look around before grimacing. “I understand and I would help you, but I’m afraid that if I leave Sonic’s problem any longer it’s going to just get worse again.”

“And I certainly don’t wanna go through that again. Well, I’m gonna get started on repairs so keep me posted Tails.”

The young genius waved goodbye to his friend and only after the echidna was out of sight did he realize he had to somehow get Sonic’s unconscious body into his plane. He smacked his forehead feeling rather stupid about not thinking of it sooner. Tails quickly looked around to see if Shadow had stuck around, but with the sight of the dark hedgehog walking into the forest he decided he was on his own.

_ He could do it! Yeah! I just gotta drag Sonic over and then get him into the empty backseat. No problem. I don’t need anyone’s help. _ Tails put on a determined face and grabbed one of Sonic’s arms to pull at. Using his tails, the fox slowly started to drag his best friend towards the plane.  _ Chaos Sonic, you’re so heavy. _ The young genius tried multiple times to lift the large hedgehog to get him up into the plane by either his own strength or with the help of his tails.

He was struggling to push Sonic’s top-heavy torso up when all of a sudden the weight was lifted off of him and caused him to fall forwards from the overexertion. Looking up he could see Shadow, of all people, hauling Sonic into the plane as if he weighed nothing.

The ebony hedgehog looked down at Tails. “Before you say anything, I wasn’t helping you out of kindness. You looked so pathetic, so I took pity on you.”

Tails raised an eyebrow at that. “Thanks.” He knew by now that Shadow always tried to cover his generosity with some kind of insult. 

The yellow fox flew up to the main cockpit to start it up. When Shadow didn’t move from his spot on the plane Tails tilted his head. “Uhh… Are you coming with? Not that I'm complaining or anything.”

The striped hedgie rolled his eyes and let out an irritated huff. “If you couldn’t lift the blue idiot into the plane how do you expect to get him out without dropping him on his head?”

“Right.” Tails got settled in and thought about warning Shadow to hang on, but thought against it. The guy was smart enough to catch on quickly and he didn’t want to irritate the dark hedgehog any further.

___Back at Tails’ workshop__

The duo made their way into the main room. Tails was quick to plug in his tablet and start comparing data while Shadow found the nearest open spot to drop Sonic on the floor. The fox was about to speak up, but abruptly stopped by what he saw. It was by far the most out of character thing he had seen between the rivals.

Shadow was hunched over Sonic’s sleeping form pretty much grooming the large beast. The dark hedgehog was picking out tufts of grass and rubble from within the long bushy quills. He also seemed to be physically checking Sonic as if to completely make certain he wasn’t harmed too badly. Tails made the conscious choice to look away and not say anything. He was sure Shadow would leave if he caught him staring and he really didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts currently. The silent company was better than nothing at all.

The fox swished his tails in mild discomfort as the sound of muffled metal footsteps closed in from behind him. He hopes that the other hedgehog was in a decent mood for what he was going to ask. 

“Hey Shadow, I need to take a scan of Sonic. Do you mind putting him on that table over there?”

All Tails got was a grunt from the moody male. Shadow did however go over to manhandle the giant furball and put him on the table. The young genius let the scanning program run before looking over the data. Tails let out a small distressed noise, but Shadow’s attuned hearing caught it easily.

“Spit it out, fox. Something wrong?” 

“Well, yes and no. All of Sonic’s stats and energy signatures have completely leveled out. Though they aren’t going back to normal and what I don’t understand is why he’s still in his werehog form.”

Shadow took a look at the hulking beast he calls his rival, but noticed something odd. The large jade colored gem on Sonic’s wrist seemed tilted. The hybrid grabbed the navy beast’s wrist and moved some of the long fur out of the way. The bracelet seemed loose and Shadow confirmed it by wiggling a finger between the band and Sonic’s wrist. Without a second thought, Shadow slowly detaches the whole bracelet off only to look at it in confusion.

“Is this power bracelet supposed to be physically attached to his wrist?” Shadow questioned out loud.

Tails looked up at the dark hedgehog’s back trying to see what he was doing. “Yes. There were two sharp pins that had embedded into Sonic’s skin. Why do you ask?”

Shadow turned around holding the bracelet in one hand. “Because it no longer is.”

Tails dropped his tablet on the counter and rushed over to the hedgehog. He grabbed Sonic’s wrist to check it over before grabbing the bracelet. “It released itself from Sonic’s wrist finally.”

The fox then quickly placed it on a small scanner to get a reading off of it. “The energy level on this thing is so low on the graph that it’s barely there. But the question is how long will Sonic stay as a werehog? And if the bracelet is removed will that affect things?”

“The faker might change when he wakes up, but I wouldn’t keep my hopes up.” Shadow turned to flick Sonic’s ear which only twitched.

The hybrid was about to leave when the werehog had shifted and grabbed him. He was pulled into overly fluffy arms and chest like a teddy bear. Shadow tried to wiggle out of the burly arms around himself and when he decided to raise his quills in defence Sonic just shifted his hold, effectively avoiding the quills. The dark hedgehog let out an irritated growl.

“Damn it, Faker! Let go of me, you hairy ball of mush.” Shadow kept trying to pull himself away even though his arms were pinned. Lifting himself and Sonic’s upper torso every now and again with his legs only to repeatedly faceplant into the broad chest below.

Shadow gave up trying to pry himself away, but realised he wasn’t the only one aware of his situation. He shifted his head over to look at Tails who was covering his mouth in a poor attempt to hide the wide smile and had his phone raised. The striped hedgehog growled a deep unnatural tone and let his teeth show. “Miles Prower. I swear to chaos if you mention this to anyone I will destroy all of your inventions and level this workshop to the ground.”

Tails’ namesakes swayed in amusement as he put his phone away. He let out a giggle before talking. “No worries, Shadow. Since you-... provided assistance in dealing with this I promise to keep quiet to everyone except Sonic.”

“I think you’ve got that wrong, fox. Why exclude him?”

“Because the look on his face when I tell AND show him a picture of him practically cuddling you like a stuffed animal is going to be priceless.”

Shadow clicked his tongue and smirked. “You’ve picked up on his attitude. Not sure if the faker’s influence on you is inherently good.”

“Yeah, well, last time he made fun of me for ‘cuddling’ my tails when I sleep so it’s only fair to get back at him.”

“And what of me? By your logic I am now in a position to humiliate you in return to make things equal.”

The young fox looked off to the side, not wanting to meet ruby colored eyes. “Well technically you’re right, but…”

“But?”

“But I assumed you wouldn’t want anything to do with our childish games. You don’t seem like the type to even bother with something this... insignificant.”

“That’s rather presumptuous of you. But I think I’ll spare you this time around, fox.”

“Oh, what an honor to be spared by the ultimate lifeform himself. How grateful I should be.” Tails laid the sarcasm on heavy, but then realised who he was talking to.

“Wow, I think you’re right. Sonic really is having an effect on me if I’m getting sarcastic with you of all people. Hehe, sorry about that.”

Shadow quickly replaced the mild shock from his face with that of a knowing smirk. “At least you have the decency to apologise when you’ve overstepped your position.”

The atmosphere of the room was light and calm, doing wonders on Tails’ frazzled mind. Even after all these years he never really got to have a full conversation with Shadow before. So for him this was quite the leap in social activity between them. The yellow fox grabbed one of his tails to run his fingers through his fur, a nervous habit he picked up, and let a soft smile spread across his face. Shadow noticed the change in the other’s demeanor and raised a curious eyebrow. He resituated himself to be leaning against his rival’s side and chest to make sitting on the table more tolerable.

“Ya know… you’re a pretty decent guy, Shadow. Most of the time your intentions are for the greater good, sometimes to the point of being self-sacrificing. I respect that. You can be so beyond stubborn and closed-minded it’s frustrating, but in some situations that can be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. You tend to help out indirectly, more than you realize.”

Tails slowly made his way to the table where the two hedgehogs lay to sit near the edge. He looked towards Sonic’s face with a soft expression. Effectively keeping Shadow’s mouth shut. The hybrid realized that whatever Tails had to say it was going to be a rather deep topic.

“You may consider the dynamic between you and Sonic as mutual rivalry and nothing more. Which it can be most of the time. But for him, he holds your rivalry as something to be treasured and respected. You’re the first person to ever give him a run for his money. High speed runs and foiling Eggman’s plans had been the norm for quite a long time back then. I think the reason he got so cocky is because he spent so long doing the same thing over and over again. But when you came into the picture you gave him the outlet he’s been needing this whole time.”

Tails giggled to himself. “After your third encounter, Sonic secretly told me he was happy that he now had an equal that could rival his own abilities. Someone that could actually keep up with him. You two may never truly see eye to eye on things, but you guys being close rivals was definitely destined to be. Without you around… well it wouldn’t be the same.”

The young fox looked at Shadow with soft ocean blue eyes and smiled. The hybrid could only openly stare as the sight had made him recall an image in his head of Maira with that same soft expression. Completely thrown back at the level of fondness directed towards him. Shadow opened his mouth to say something, anything, but when nothing came out he shut it again. Tails got up from the table and was about to make his way out of the main workshop.

“This is between us, so think about what I said for as little or as long as you want. I won't hold it to you. I am, however, gonna get some snacks and lunch. You’re more than welcome to have some so just ask given that you probably won't be going anywhere soon.”

With that Tails left Shadow with all the thoughts bouncing around his head.  _ What the hell was that? Why was the fox so openly honest with him? Better yet, why does he seem to trust me enough to tell me these things?  _ He now realizes he can hear the soft snores emanating from below him more prominently.  _ Speaking of the faker, why is he just letting Sonic hold him? Not because Tails would be more upset and the kit reminded him of Maria. Definitely not. Nope. He couldn’t care less. Yeah, we’ll go with that. _

Shadow let out a thoughtful hum while looking at deep navy fur _. Also why does Sonic value their rivalry so much or try to be his...friend? He has tried to destroy the planet, has backstabbed and tricked most of Sonic’s friends, joined Eggman and other evil villains for his own advantage. By definition he’s not a good guy. Sonic shouldn’t give a damn about me or even want to befriend me at all. _

Shadow closed his eyes, getting lost in his own mind and the warmth surrounding him. _ Then again, Sonic has technically shown me some kind of forgiveness. Always gave me the benefit of doubt, another chance to do good or change my mind, trying to reach something within me that I’m not entirely sure exists. He also tends to show a darker part of himself when it's just the two of us. Voicing opinions and thoughts he wouldn’t dare say out loud to his group of friends. It’s odd, but I feel rather privileged to see what lies beneath that heroic facade he’s pretty much perfected. _

The sound of a pressurized can being opened ripped Shadow from his inner monologue. His ear flicked to tilt itself to the sound right before he turned his head to look around. Off to his right he could see Tails with a strained expression and an open can of soda in his hand.

“Oh, uhh, I didn’t think it was going to be that loud. I should have opened it in the kitchen. Sorry for waking you up.”

The hybrid quirked an eyebrow. “Why would you assume I was sleeping?”

“Oh, well… you had your eyes closed and seemed very relaxed. Not that I would blame you, Sonic looks like he’d be a very comfy pillow.”

Shadow just rolled his eyes and shifted around. His left foot was starting to go numb. Tails was looking over some data when a ping sounded from his laptop. The fox was about to say something when Sonic decided to let go of Shadow and shift onto his side with a grunt. The hybrid immediately got up to move away before he could be grabbed again. Though now that he was up he felt a chill run down his spine, but he would rather die than admit he enjoyed sharing body heat with his rival.

The dark hedgehog walked over to where Tails was rapidly typing on his laptop. From what he can see, the main graph that held Sonic’s stats showed a jump in activity after the low platu. Just then Sonic groaned and slowly lifted himself to sit up.

“Oh man. I feel like I’ve been run over by a large truck.” Sonic said while rubbing his head.

The werehog blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the light. He then took note that he was no longer on Angel Island, but in Tails’ workshop. Sonic’s eyes eventually landed on his best friend and rival. Tails ran up and hugged the navy beast tightly while Shadow just stood in place with his arms crossed and a rather tense expression on his face.

“Happy to see ya too buddy. So what did I miss?”

Tails pulled back to look at Sonic before he and Shadow shared a knowing glance. There was a lot to catch up on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out intense and then I laid the feels on thick.  
> What will they do, now that the bracelet is off but Sonic is still a werehog?  
> Stay tuned~


	6. Truths Revealed

Tails couldn’t help the sweet but teasing tone that laced his voice. This was way better than what he imagined. Sonic had his ears tilted down and was acting all huffy even though the furious blush on his cheeks gave his true emotions away. Tails had pulled up the photo he took of Sonic cuddling Shadow in his sleep on the big monitor.

“Betrayed by my own brother. I thought you were better than that.” Sonic said, trying to play off his embarrassment.

“You practically raised me Sonic. So of course I picked up on your sense of humor.”

Sonic shook his head, but smiled knowing that Tails was technically right about that. He then looked over to Shadow who seemed rather amused while drinking a can of soda that Tails had brought him.

“Don’t look too pleased, Mr Ultimate Lifeform. I’m surprised you’re not peeved about such an incriminating photo as I am.”

Shadow cocked an eyebrow. “Why would I? Miles has already informed me it won’t ever be used as blackmail, just a lighthearted joke between us. It’s a waste of my energy to get bent out of shape over it. Not to mention he  _ knows _ what will happen if he crosses me and leaks that photo to the public.” The dark hedgehog takes another swig of his drink.

“Why am I not surprised you threatened him, but I guess you’re right.”

Shadow finished off his drink with a smirk. “Of course I am. I’m always right.”

“Uh huh. You keep telling yourself that.” Sonic said with a light chuckle.

Tails decided to speak up on something he found odd. “Hey check this out. So I noticed on Sonic’s stats graph that there are little fluctuations containing Light energy. I also noticed that the color of your fur is a bit lighter than that deep dark navy color.”

Everyone in the room, including Sonic himself, took a good look at his appearance. He was still very much a werehog, but he was a bit smaller, a shade lighter in color, and the cleats on the soles of his shoes were gone.

“I’m still fluffier than ever though. Do you think it’s all that light energy you’re talking about?”

“Precisely! With all the observations and data I’ve collected, it’s confirmed that your actual mental and emotional state is what causes the fluctuations in energy. Our main focus is to get you to go through one more transformation sequence. With the bracelet off it will make things more difficult because we need to reach a certain threshold and then maintain it for it to happen.”

“Keeping my spirits up shouldn’t be that hard. Just gotta act like it’s a lazy day for me. I could also go for a few chilli dogs right about now.” Sonic said with a shrug. He made his way over to the couch in the little seating area to ungracefully sit down.

“We could have that arranged. Better yet let's make homemade ones like we used to! I can stop by the market and grab everything we need.” Tails shut his laptop and walked over to his satchel.

Sonic gave a questioning expression. “I’m all for that and everything, but are you sure you’re okay with that? I can go with you, if you want.”

The young genius shook his head and gave the beast a soft smile. “Sonic, I’m not eight anymore. I don’t need supervision. I’m okay, really. We have a solid game plan on how to fix this whole problem. Plus doing something normal like grocery shopping will do me some good. Don’t worry.”

“You’ll forever be my little bro, I’m gonna worry no matter what. But if you need the space I won't press the issue. I’ll get some of the stuff out and ready by the time you get back.”

Tails let out a giggle. “I’m two feet taller than you and my markings have grown in. I’m not so little anymore, Sonic. But I get what you mean, I’ll be back soon.”

The two tailed fox soon left the hedgehogs on their own. There was an awkward atmosphere sitting heavy in the air. Sonic noticed Shadow has yet to leave to do whatever he does on his own. He thought for sure the dark hedgie would have dipped out the moment he wasn’t needed.

“Not that I mind your company, but I thought you had a mission from GUN to go on again?”

Shadow looked up from the sheet of data he was looking over. “No. I was waiting to see IF I was being sent out and given that I’m still here I’m sure you can put the pieces together.”

“Oh, okay. Cool. Well… thanks for helping out Shads. I know you like your independence and all, so feel free to leave whenever you want. Don’t feel obligated to stay if you don’t want to. But you can linger and look over some of Tails’ data or… do whatever you want.”

Sonic could tell he was rambling and making the situation more awkward. “I’m uhhh… gonna go get the kitchen ready so if ya decide to leave I’ll catch ya around. Haha.”

After a blank look from the striped hedgehog Sonic decided to make a break for the kitchen. The speedster still isn’t used to Shadow’s calm moments. He didn’t mind them, but it always felt out of place given who he was. Sonic tried his best to be careful when pulling out the pots. Though he eventually spaced out while looking into the pantry.

The dynamic he shares with Shadow is a rather odd one. Both of them act like two sides of a coin, but the coin keeps getting flipped back and forth. At one moment they could be fighting over something ridiculous and then next thing you know they’re having a casual conversation over lunch. Sonic has learned that his counterpart only allows himself to slightly be more open when they are alone. In turn Sonic opens up about things he just doesn’t have the heart to say in front of his close friends. He can tell that Shadow still holds himself extremely reserved, but at the same time he can’t blame the guy given his past. The sound of a cutting board being laid down on the countertop followed by a knife being sharpened pulled Sonic from his thoughts.

Turning around he was greeted by the sight of Shadow standing in the kitchen helping him out. To have his counterpart just casually and calmly setting things out to make food felt oddly domestic. He never really took the time to actually look at his rival’s appearance until now. Sonic realized Shadow tended to always keep himself balanced, always prepared to be on the move. The guy was well built and is insanely strong for his size. The one thing that always catches Sonic’s attention was Shadow's eyes. Stunning deep pools of ruby red somehow looked both fierce and sad at the same time. Not to mention the hybrid wasn’t too bad on the eyes once you see past the harsh attitude.

The dark hedgehog eventually lifted his head to let out a sigh.

“If you don’t stop staring I’m going to start charging you by the minute.” Shadow said with a hint of irritation.

Sonic quickly looked away to try and calm down the blush that dusted his cheeks.  _ What is wrong with me?! Don’t openly ogle at your rival, you idiot! _

“Hehehe. Sorry, I kinda spaced out. I... uhh, thought for sure you would have left.”

Shadow finally turned to lean against the island with his arms crossed. “I can tell, given that I called your name twice while you were vacantly looking into the pantry. I have no further obligations required of me so I’m choosing to see how this situation plays out.”

“Ah, I see. Well making homemade chilli dogs should be entertaining for a while. Me and Tails do this every so often and it makes for a great bonding activity. Plus the reward is delicious.”

Shadow let out thoughtful hum and a comfortable silence took over. Sonic got a bit fidgety over not knowing if he should strike up a conversation or not before thinking about turning on some music. He then walked over to the stereo in the living room and carefully picked up one of Tails’ tablets. He wasn’t sure what kind of music genres Shadow listened to, but he did know the hybrid was fond of rock and alternative due to stopping by one day while he was working on his motorcycle. Anything else was a mystery, but he wasn’t feeling anything loud or brash. So Sonic chose this huge playlist he and Tails had put together, something upbeat but relaxing to keep himself calm.

“Is this Lofi and chillhop music? Isn’t that a bit… slow paced for your tastes, faker?” Shadow said while opening up a can of soda.

Sonic was rather dumbfounded by his rival’s comment. He moved to kneel on the couch cushions and look over the backrest. “Well I decided it's the best way to keep me calm with some background noise. But more importantly, you’re familiar with this genre of music?”

“Yes. I frequently listen to this type of music while I’m in my study. Helps me focus and relax after dealing with the stresses at GUN.” 

“Never would have guessed you’re a big enough bookworm to have a study in that bunker you call home. Wait a sec, I’ve never seen such a room and I’ve been over to your place multiple times.”

“That’s because I keep it hidden, idiot. I have collected a wide range of literature over the years and needed a place to put them so I built myself another extension.”

“Any reason why you’ve picked up reading?”

Shadow put his half finished soda down and took a deep breath while closing his eyes. Sonic could see the large amount of discomfort and inner confliction on the hybrid’s face. By that reaction he had a pretty good guess the reason had something to do with Shadow’s past. The navy beast knew better than to press for answers about that topic.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, Shadow. If you’re not comfortable I’ll drop it and we can move on to something else.”

For a moment it was silent except for the soft music playing in the background. Shadow recalled what Tails had said about Sonic holding their moments together with such a high regard.

“Maria liked to read books all the time. More so when I read them to her. She was fond of fantasy and mystery genres. I had given up reading for personal satisfaction for a long time after she was… gone. Though the tides had changed for me over the years, I discovered a lot about who I am and what I represent.” Shadow took a rather controlled breath. He opened his eyes but kept them fixated on the inhibitor ring around his wrist while he fidgeted with it.

“One late night at GUN, I had found an archival hall and stumbled upon some low clearance level things that they recovered from the Ark. I found a box full of books and novels Maira had loved to read. I stole it and started to read them one by one at home. I’ve now made it a habit of reading new ones to honor her in the afterlife.”

Shadow left out the fact that he sometimes reads out loud to a picture he has of Maria. Pretending she’s sitting in the chair next to him listening to the words. The hybrid looks up and the sight he’s met with tugs on something fierce inside his chest. Sonic has a soft but sad smile on his face. Those emerald eyes normally filled with optimism are now slightly watery and filled with a shining warmth he can’t place. The werehog blinks a few times to prevent any tears from spilling over before speaking.

“I… Thanks for sharing that with me. It’s a fitting hobby for you. You know, has anyone told you about-”

The sound of keys unlocking the front door cut Sonic off. The door then swung open with Tails holding several bags. The werehog switched gears and quickly hopped off the couch to help his brother. Greeting the young fox with his standard smile and nonchalant attitude. The change in atmosphere was so fast it almost gave Shadow mental whiplash. He wanted to know what Sonic was going to say, but by how quick the blue blur put up his facade he decided to leave it for a more appropriate time.

Sonic and Tails were chatting while setting out all the fresh ingredients and Shadow moved his drink out of the way.

“It wasn’t too busy actually. I ran into Cream and Vanilla so I hope you don’t mind that I told them a little bit about what happened. Ms. Vanilla says you’ll be back to normal in no time because you’ve got a strong soul.”

“Well that’s mighty sweet of her to say. She’s right though, I’ll bounce back.”

“Okay so I’ll handle cooking the hot dogs, I’m going to assume Shadow is good with knives so he can handle cutting things up, and Sonic you take care of mixing all the ingredients in the pot. We haven’t made food together in a long while so this should be fun.”

The three of them quickly got started on making the chilli and sharing some of their best and worst cooking memories. The navy hedgehog was the star for most of the horror stories given he could only cook chilli dogs and pancakes. One particular story about a large can of soup exploding onto the ceiling was extremely humorous to Shadow. Sonic and Tails found out that Shadow was actually an excellent cook, but tended to hunt fish, grow his own ingredients, and buy/trade with local farmers to avoid grocery stores. Something about not wanting to spend too much time in public places and cutting out the middleman and going straight to the source.

Once everyone had their chili dogs made, grabbed some drinks, and some chips they all sat down at the little breakfast nook to eat. Shadow looked a little apprehensive to take a bite while Sonic was almost done with his first.

Tails tilted his head and gave a questioning expression. “You okay Shadow?”

The hybrid let out a huff and shifted a bit. “I’ve never eaten a chili dog before.”

Sonic nearly choked on his last bite before swallowing his food. “You WHAT! Dude there’s a reason why I eat them all the time. They are so delicious and filling. Mmmh, so tasty too.”

“Don’t listen to him, Shadow. Sonic has a tendency to over exaggerate chili dogs. They are good, but I can only eat one or two before it’s too much for me. Try it out and see what you think. If you don’t like it we can make something else.”

Shadow watches Sonic shove another chili dog into his mouth, humming happily before giving him a thumbs up. The ebony hedgehog eyes the chili covered hotdog before picking it up, closing his eyes, and taking a decent bite out of it. After a few seconds of chewing Shadow opened his eyes and nodded. Sonic and Tails seemed extremely happy about his approval. It wasn’t bad and the fresh ingredients made it very tasty. Definitely not something Shadow would eat as much as Sonic would, but occasionally he wouldn’t mind indulging in his rival’s favorite food.

They sat eating for a while, chatting about random things. Eventually getting up to start cleaning up the dishes. They got about halfway done when Tails’ phone started to ring.

“Hello? Oh, hey Cream! What’s up?” Tails put down the recently cleaned glass he had in his hand.

The golden fox was asking several questions regarding a television and how it was set up. This went on for quite a while, but it didn’t seem to get better if the irritated swish in the fox’s tails was anything to go by. Tails eventually said his goodbyes and hung up.

“Sorry to do this to you guys, but I gotta go over to Cream and Vanilla’s house to help fix their tv setup.”

Sonic made a questioning noise. “Wouldn’t it have been better for them to call the Chaotix? The agency is closer to where they live.”

“Ms. Vanilla said she would have, but apparently they are out on a job and was told they won't be back for a few days. She said she got a new tv hooked up and it works, but the audio is nonexistent. So I’m gonna head over there to help them out.”

“I’ll let ya go on one condition. If Vanilla offers you one of her amazing homemade pies you will be bringing some back to compensate for leaving us with most of the dishes to wash.” Sonic said with a sly smile.

“Oh, yeah! I wonder if she’s got some freshly baked pastries. I know I just ate, but it sounds so delicious. I’m gonna grab a few tools and then head out. Please dont destroy anything while i'm gone. I don’t want to have to replace the front door again.”

“I hear ya loud and clear buddy. I promise not to break anything, but I can’t speak for Shads though.” Sonic said with a giggle.

Shadow just glared at his rival for a moment before rolling his eyes and getting back to cleaning up. Tails said his goodbye and Sonic quickly got back to helping out.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I agreed to this. I hate cleaning dishes.”

Shadow clicked his tongue and moved over to grab the sponge out of Sonic’s hand. “If it gets you to stop complaining like a child I will wash everything and you can put everything into containers. Now go.”

“Not gonna argue with that.”

The two hedgehogs spent a few good minutes cleaning up. Sonic had put the spare containers of food away into the fridge and was now helping dry off pots to then be put away. After that they meandered into the living room to relax after such an eventful lunch. Sonic chose the couch and Shadow walked over to the leather armchair in the corner. The room was rather silent except for the soft music playing in the background. Amongst it all there was that warm and fuzzy domestic feeling tugging at Sonic’s mind again. It was nice and comforting, but it also felt confusing and odd. What implications it held, he wasn’t sure of.

Sonic’s ear twitched in the direction where he heard Shadow get up from the armchair he was sitting on to the open spot next to him on the couch. The blue hedgehog could practically hear his own heartbeat picking up pace.  _ What was going on? Why did Shadow move closer? Why did he feel nervous all of a sudden? _ The thought of what it meant threw Sonic for a loop. Thankfully, Shadow decided to be merciful and answer his unspoken questions.

“Sonic, I’m just going to get straight to the point. What were you going to say earlier before Tails came back? With the way you sounded and the harsh shift in mood I can’t ignore it. What haven’t I been told?”

Sonic turned to look at his counterpart only to shift his eyes to the side and tilt his ears back. He was kind of hoping Shadow wouldn’t have mentioned his slip up earlier. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be ready to tell such a story, but then again he may never be. Sonic took a deep breath and decided it would be better to finally get some closure after all these years.

“Do you know what happened after our fight against the biolizard?”

Shadow tilted his head confused as to why that particular battle was brought up. “Besides me getting amnesia afterwards and then having to deal with the Black Arms invasion, no. I wasn’t told much about what happened directly after or how it affected everyone besides Rouge.”

Sonic let out a weak chuckle. “Ah, so Rouge actually doesn’t know what happened to me.”

Shadow frowned at the mention of the jewel hunting bat. “In regards to you, all she told me is that you handed over one of my old inhibitor rings to her before leaving. What are you getting at, hedgehog?”

The navy beast leaned back and hugged himself. “I didn’t even stick around. I found the fastest way off the Ark just so I could get back onto the ground and go for a high speed vent run. Because the last thing I wanted to do was to start bawling my eyes out in front of everyone.”

Sonic pulled a piece of loose fuzz off his arm and watched it float to the ground. “I thought that with everything you’ve been through, death would be the only way you would know peace. Turns out, your peace is my inner turmoil.”

The werehog clutched at his arms with water in his eyes threatening to spill over. “I did nothing but hide myself away, cry, and go on runs for a month straight. When I started this whole hero business I made an oath to always protect those who cannot protect themselves, but you were the first person I couldn’t save. My first mistake. My first true failure. My first casualty and hopefully my only one. Watching you slip away, unable to hold onto your super form, and plummet to Earth is a horrifying image I can never unsee.”

Sonic couldn’t stop the tears from falling even if he wanted to. “I wanted to save you. I really did. But my super form wouldn’t last long enough and with Eggman still alive I knew the world would need me again. So I… I let you go and said my goodbye before heading back. I know they avoid talking about it, but my friends used to call my bluff over me being affected by you being gone. I always played it off and hid behind that heroic facade you’ve never liked.”

The speedster wiped at his now wet face. “The day of the invasion we had a plan set and ready to help defend the planet at all costs, but when I saw you fighting off the Black Arms I thought I was haluscinating. Of course I figured out eventually that you were the real deal and somehow not dead anymore. When we were about to beat Black Doom I swore to myself and everyone else that I wasn’t coming out of that battle alone. You have cheated death itself, worthy of the title Ultimate Lifeform, and that’s why I feel so honored to be your rival. To share races, battles, witty banter, and occasionally saving the planet from certain destruction with you is something I hold close to my heart.”

Sonic turned to lock eyes with Shadow. “I lost you once, you can be damn sure I’m not gonna lose you again.”

The werehog finally noticed Shadow was stunned into silence, but had streams of tears running down his cheeks. Seeing his counterpart so physically vulnerable was game over for him. Sonic grabbed Shadow into a firm hug and when it was reciprocated just as strongly he couldn’t help by sobbing out once more. For Sonic, it was like a massive weight had been lifted off his chest. The darkness he had been carrying for such a long time was finally gone.

But that wasn’t the only thing to change. The weight of relief was extensive enough to slowly transform Sonic back to his old self. Bright cobalt hues replacing the once dark navy. The speedster buried his face into soft white fur as a soothing hand combed through his quills.

“Oh, man…*sniff* I-I’m getting your chest fur wet... *sniff* Can’t have that happen, now can we? Hehehe.” Sonic let out a rather choked laugh and slowly pulled out of the embrace to wipe at the wet strands of fur.

The blue hedgehog could see Shadow trying desperately to wipe away the tears that still continued to fall down his cheeks. Sonic gave a soft, but sad smile.  _ He still tries to be the tough guy even when he’s so openly vulnerable.  _ The speedster returns the soothing gesture he was given moments ago by running his fingers through pitch black quills. Shadow meets Sonic’s eyes and things eventually calm down. Surprisingly, the hybrid is the one to speak up first with a rather strained voice.

“I had no idea the effect of my death would have given you this extensive amount of mental and emotional pain. And then to carry this weight for so long. You’re far stronger than I give you credit for.”

“We all have choices to make, but it’s living with the consequences afterwards is what will make or break us. After a month of brooding and getting back into the hero work, I told myself that if you truly were gone I would fight everything and everyone that threatened to harm this planet and its people in your honor.”

“You truly are kind hearted to a fault, Sonic. But of course you can’t get rid of me that easily, so you’re stuck being my rival.”

Sonic let out a weak chuckle before pulling away and leaning back to rest the side of his head on Shadow’s shoulder. “I think I can live with that. But I do have one question.”

The ebony hedgehog gave a questioning noise and watched as Sonic fiddled with the cuff of his glove. “When people ask you what your best experience was, why do you commonly answer, ‘When I was dead’?”

Shadow let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and looked up to the ceiling. “Because I got to see Maria again. When I hit the planet the fall had knocked me out. Completely unconscious in a crater in the middle of a dense forest. Everything was so vivid in this spiritual world I went to. Me and Maria sat in what seemed like an endless flower field near a lake talking about how things ended up and what to do next. She told me that I fulfilled her promise by saving the planet, but mentioned that she still thought the planet would eventually be in danger again. And with me gone, who was going to protect it long term?”

The hybrid sighed and looked at the palms of his hands before making fitsts. “I’m unsure how long I was out for, but it must have been a month or two due to the state of the vegetation growing around my limbs when I woke up. Having a healing factor can be extremely beneficial, but it was ultimately my downfall. From what I understand, it prioritized making me functional instead of repairing memory retention. I still to this day get small memory recalls from my early days on the Ark.”

Sonic nodded and rubbed his eyes one more time. “I understand you a bit better now. You truly loved and cared for Maria and it shows in how dedicated you are. I respect that.”

The cobalt hedgie sat up and stretched. “But let's get some things clear. None of this means we are “weak” or “too soft”. If you think that for a second I’ll go easy on you for having the strength to be vulnerable or to openly cry, you’re in for a surprise.”

He then turned to give Shadow a warm smile that had a hint of mischief in it. The striped hedgehog had a brief moment of shock before replacing it with one of his signature smirks.

“It would truly be a disappointment if I wasted my skills on a pity fight. Always give it your all and never back down, Faker~”

Sonic couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled out of him. He felt more at ease than he ever had in a long while. He knew he could always speak his mind around Shadow and this only further proved it.

“By the way, thanks for helping Tails out when I wasn’t myself. I can tell he was pretty shaken up about what happened and he needed that support. Even if it was done indirectly.”

Shadow just shrugged. “The fox knows how to handle himself pretty well.”

“Well, thank you anyway.”

The sound of footsteps coming down the hall that connected to the workshop drew the two hedgehog’s attention. Tails emerged holding a wrapped pie. Upon seeing Sonic back to normal the young genius slowly put the pie down and off to the side before running up to hug his brother.

“SONIC! YOU’RE BACK!” Tails said while nuzzling the blue hedgehog’s cheek.

“What are ya talking about, I’ve always been here buddy!” Sonic said with a laugh.

Tails pulled away to give Sonic the warmest smile, but then practically knocked the wind out of Shadow by hugging him tightly. The hybrid wasn’t used to being touched by people he didn’t fully trust and wasn’t sure what to do. He decided to lightly pat the young kit’s back. Tails spoke up albeit muffled by Shadow’s chest.

“I don’t know what you did and you certainly don’t have to tell me, but thank you Shadow. Thank you so much for helping me get Sonic back to normal. It means more to me than you may ever realize.”

Sonic got up and walked over to pick up the pie. “Oooh, homemade apple pie! Wow, this smells delicious.”

The blue hedgie walked over to the island to set the pie down. Tails let go of Shadow to get up and walk over to his brother. “I know right! She insisted I take it as compensation for setting up her surround system.”

“Then let’s not let such a good thing go to waste. Cut some slices and I’ll get the plates. Hey Shads, You want a piece?”

Shadow looked over the backrest and nodded his head. “But don’t add anything else or it’ll be too sweet for my taste.”

Sonic added a scoop of ice cream to his and Tails’ pies before walking back over. He handed Shadow his slice and then sat down on the couch. They decided to watch an action movie while eating homemade pie. Afterwards they had called Knuckles to give him an update and for Sonic to apologise for making a mess on Angel Island. Of course Knuckles just laughed it off and gave the excuse that he went easy on Sonic. Once they hung up, Tails had proposed playing a video game and was looking for a good multiplayer all three of them could play. He handed out controllers and started up some kind of snowboard racing game.

Sonic had looked over to Shadow sitting next to him and smiled when their eyes connected before looking back towards the screen. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a soft smirk on Shadow’s face. Sonic knew things wouldn’t change immediately between him and his rival, but a sense of mutual understanding was very much apparent. He then looked over at Tails who gave him a warm smile and scooted closer. No matter what happened nothing could keep the two adoptive brothers apart.

Maybe this whole werehog thing wasn’t a complete waste of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking it out to the very end! I appreciate all the lovely comments you guys had sent me and I hope you throughly enjoyed my fic. I decided to end this off heavy on the feels, but warming the heart.
> 
> Much love to everyone~ <3


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